Falling All Over Again
by otheragram
Summary: Connie Beauchamp takes a trip over Christmas to New York, to visit her daughter Grace. Whilst reminiscing on old times with her ex and Grace's father, Sam Strachan, Connie finds herself falling for him all over again...
1. Chapter 1

**It was a cold December's night, a light beautiful blanket of soft white snow gently covered the airport of New York and as the plane landed with a halt, Connie's eyes shot open awoken with shock. She rubbed her tired eyes and gazed out of the tiny window at the new surroundings, trapped in her own little world, completely unaware of anybody else around her. She was so excited to be seeing her daughter after four long hectic months of working flat out, Grace would have 100 percent of her attention at all times for the next two weeks. 'Two weeks' Connie thought to herself, that definitely was not enough time for them to do all of what she had planned. Plus, she figured that since both of those weeks fell over the Christmas period that Sam would want to spend quite a lot of time with Grace too. It would be his first ever Christmas with his daughter and Connie couldn't take that away from him, she'd had all of the 8 Christmases with her so far so it was only fair that she let Sam have his share, he was her father after all.**

 **' _Hello mum, dads making me go 2 bed now. I cant wait 2 c u. Love you xxx'_ Connie read the text from her daughter over and over again, and smiled to herself. She tapped out a reply as she waited for her luggage on the huge conveyor belt. **

**_'I can't wait to see you_ Gracie. _I'll be there when you wake up sweetie. I love you too. Xxxx'_ She pressed send and chucked her phone into her handbag, now even more excited to see her baby. **

* * *

**"Connie..." Sam stood speechless in the doorway, staring at the beautiful woman before him. "You look..." He composed himself, stepping aside, "Come in."**

 **Connie smirked, shaking her head slightly as she carefully made her way inside, "I expect Grace is asleep?" She slipped her jacket off and placed it in to her ex's arms, "A large glass of wine would be delightful."**

 **"I see 'Princess Connie' hasn't changed." He scoffed, hanging her coat up, raising an eyebrow, "Come through." He added, showing Mrs Beauchamp through to the tastefully decorated kitchen.**

 **"Oh please, I prefer Queen, Mr Strachan." A half smile playing sexily at her lips as she leant against the kitchen counter to be rewarded with a small laugh from Sam, who was busy searching for two wine glasses from the cupboard. There was a long awkward silence as he did so, until Connie finally asked, "So how has Grace been?"**

 **Sam poured red wine into two large glasses and handed one to the clinical lead, "Well she's definitely her mother's daughter." He laughed, "She's been great. It's been so good to have her here with me, all I've ever wanted is to be able to see her every single day. Who'd have thought we'd have made something so amazing together?"**

 **Connie sipped her wine and smiled, "Well, like you said she's definitely her mother's daughter. She gets it all from me, of course." Sam laughed at his ex's arrogance, and nodded, "And she's a handful. But perfect all the same. I don't think I should have expected any less when reproducing with Constance Beauchamp." Connie laughed and sipped her wine, not taking her eyes off of Sam, looking at him properly for the first time in years. He hadn't changed much, he'd put on a bit of weight, gained a few wrinkles and grey hairs but still had that sparkle in his eye.**

 **"So anyway, Constance, how are you these days?" He asked, knowing that it probably still annoyed her when he called her by her full name. Her response was a roll of the eyes and the infamous death stare, "Great thanks. I've seen and been to places I never thought I'd ever encounter, I've lost and I've gained. All in all, it's been challenging, shall I say?"**

 **"Oh yes." Sam nodded, "Your brief stint in prison. I've told you before, Con, you can't just eat the Pic'n'Mix in the shop out of the tubs, you have to pay for them." He added with a half smile playing at his lips. Connie giggled and covered her mouth with her hand to prevent the wine she was about to swallow from spilling out of her mouth.**

 **"Sam! That was once! After that time we went to that awful dreadful bar and were ridiculously intoxicated!" She laughed, "Goodness, that must've been nearly ten years ago now." Sam watched Connie, smiling, he couldn't remember the last time they had had a conversation without one or the other snapping at the other person. All of their happy memories together were suddenly flooding back into Sam's brain like lightning, making his smile broaden.**

 **"Ten years, yeah. Bloody hell, now I feel old." He laughed, shaking his head whilst topping up both of their glasses.**

 **"You are old, Mr Strachan. Since when did you have so many frown lines?" She asked with a wicked smile, their faces ever so close as he finished pouring wine into her glass.**

 **"I wish I could say the years have took their toll on you too, Mrs Beauchamp, but the truth is, they really really haven't at all." He whispered, tearing his eyes away from her seductive gaze. She was still as beautiful as ever, if not even more so. There was always something about this woman that made Sam feel incredibly free, electric pulsating wildly through his body.**

 **Connie shifted away slightly, feeling the tension grow between them. She looked up at Sam, and interrupted the long beautiful silence between them, "Are you going to give me a tour of the house then?"**

* * *

 **Connie closed her eyes as she relaxed in the bath, and took in the beautiful scent forming around her from the dimly lit candles. It was definitely needed after the long day she'd had travelling. She looked around Sam's bathroom, and wondered who had chosen the design and décor. It definitely wasn't her ex. This had a 'woman's touch', most certainly. She wondered who this woman could be, and where she was now. She obviously didn't live there now, Grace had never mentioned an evil step-mum and surely Sam would have informed Connie if there was another person in their daughter's life, well someone as important as a wicked step mother. Connie knew that Sam had obviously had relationships after their very brief one but she never thought that he'd had quite such a serious one as of yet. Not that she was bothered about him being with another woman, she was just concerned for Grace's sake.**

 **Mrs Beauchamp decided not to question her ex boyfriend on the subject of what influenced the décor of his bathroom as she slowly got up out of the bath to be greeted with the fact that she had no towel and there were none lying about in the bathroom. She mentally slapped herself for not remembering something as essential when taking a bath. She couldn't shout Sam to bring her towel, she didn't want to take the risk of waking her daughter up. She opened the bathroom door slightly and prayed that Sam was in the next room, "Sam! Saaaam!" She hissed. After five minutes of whispering his name, she decided to try and run to the spare room, hoping she'd succeed without being seen. She opened the door slightly wider, and folded her arms across her bare chest and looked cautiously to the left and then the right before counting to three and running out of the door to the spare room. As she reached the door, she felt victorious, she'd made it!**

 **"You still have the best bum I've ever seen." Connie jumped almost out of her skin, shutting her eyes tight in embarrassment, she turned her head slowly, to see Sam standing in the doorway opposite her room, grinning like a Cheshire cat. She shook her head, unable to speak, before quickly escaping into the bedroom her cheeks flushing crimson.**

 **Sam grabbed a fresh towel from the airing cupboard before gently knocking on the bedroom door, Connie opened it slightly, stood behind protecting what dignity she had left. Sam held the towel out to her, "Don't be embarrassed, Con. It's nothing I haven't seen before." Connie gratefully took the towel and wrapped it around her body before opening the door fully, "Yes but that was ten years ago, Sam. I really don't fancy the idea of being naked around you, anymore." She snapped, a little nastily, as if her were poison and totally undesirable. Sam looked at her, "You're definitely still the same. A complete and utter bitch."**

 **They both glared at one another for what seemed like an eternity before Sam plunged forward towards her and Connie wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling their two bodies hard against each other as their lips touched causing fire to course through their veins. Sam pushed Connie into the bedroom as he kissed her passionately, kicking the door shut behind them ready for a night of steamy passion.**


	2. Chapter 2

The Winter morning sun shone blindingly through the blinds as Connie's eyes slowly blinked open, she sat up slowly yawning. The happenings of the night before began to flood back to her, she groaned inwardly, full of regret as she peered at the digital alarm clock next to her bedside to then see that it was 11:00AM. She sighed and got up out of bed, annoyed at herself for oversleeping. She grabbed some clothes from her suitcase, whilst wondering why Sam hadn't woken her sooner. Perhaps to avoid 'the awkward morning after the night before' moment, Connie thought that there was no perhaps about it, he definitely would be avoiding the mother of his daughter for the next two weeks at all costs.  
Connie threw on an old grey jumper and some jeans, before half halfheartedly putting some make up on and tying her hair up. She braced herself, before going downstairs and was relieved to have Grace greet her excitedly.  
"Mummy!" Grace grinned running into her mother's arms happily, "You're here!" Connie smiled and cuddled her daughter, she kissed her head gently, "Oh I've missed you so much, darling."  
""Morning Connie." Sam mumbled from the corner of the room, briefly looking up from the newspaper he was reading, making her jump slightly.  
"Mum, can you plait my hair? Dad can't do it properly and makes me look like such a geek when he tries to do it." Grace rolled her eyes, saving her Mum from even trying to respond to her father. Connie nodded, and smiled, gently pulling Grace's pony tail, "Of course baby. Go and get your hair brush and I'll quickly grab myself a cup of coffee." Grace wandered off upstairs to find her hair brush, happy to have someone who knew what they were doing when it came to hair instead of her clueless dad who just made her look like a complete and utter nerd.

* * *

Connie and Grace had decided to pay a trip to the shopping center, or the shopping mall- as Grace had repeatedly corrected her mum over a thousand gazillion times.

"Shopping MALL. We're in America now, mum. It isn't a shopping center. It's the mall. God you are so uncool." Grace sighed rolling her eyes as she walked hand in hand with Connie through a slightly busy designer shop that Mrs Beauchamp had insisted would be fun.

"Ok,ok. The mall. Sorry Gracie." Connie smiled, her eyes glued to a pair of beautiful but very expensive pair of red soled high heels, "They are..."

"Really really really ugly. God, how are we even related!? You know nothing about fashion." Grace exclaimed, frowning at the pair of shoes, "Come on mum. I'm hungry!"

Even though she was slightly offended at her daughter calling a pair of Christian Louboutin heels ugly, Connie couldn't help but smile at how quickly she was growing up and how she had started forming her own opinions on everything she lay her small eyes on. She really had missed her little girl, and she most certainly didn't want to leave her for another minute.

* * *

As both mother and daughter sat down at a table in a very claustrophobic McDonald's restaurant, Connie sighed at Grace's choice of lunch.

"Thanks mum." Grace mumbled with a mouthful of chips. Connie watched in horror, sipping her coffee.

"Grace, please don't speak with your mouth full. It's rude." She said, frowning at her little girl who responded to her with an over dramatic sigh. A deathly silence filled the air between them suddenly, as they sat together, one eating and the other drinking.

"Mum?" The little girl said after a moment or two, breaking the horrible silence, "What was daddy doing in your bedroom with you this morning?"

Connie sat frozen for a minute, slightly thrown as to how her daughter knew about that. Surely Sam wouldn't have said anything? She blinked and replied, "He wasn't sweetie, what gave you that idea?"

Grace finished off her burger before frowning, "Yes he was. I came into your bedroom to wake you up and dad was hugging you. He told me you was tired."

"That was it. We were just... Well we were just hugging." She responded, a little lost for words. Grace had never known her parents to be in a relationship and Connie didn't want her daughter to start thinking that this was a possibility of them being in one.

"But you don't like my dad. And my dad doesn't like you. People don't hug people they don't like." The little girl rambled on, trying to make sense of the whole situation that had been playing on her mind all day. Connie sighed, why did children always want an explanation for everything?

"What makes you think that I don't like your dad?" Mrs Beauchamp asked, tilting her head to the side, she'd never ever said anything horrible about Sam in front of Grace as she'd always thought of him to be an excellent father. And the more Connie thought about it, the more she realized that she didn't dislike him at all.

Grace played with the straw in her drink and avoided eye contact, "Well... All of my friends mum and dads live all together. We don't. We never have, have we?"

"No. No we haven't but that doesn't mean that I'm not fond of your dad. Of course I like him. If it wasn't for him, I wouldn't have you, would I?" Connie whispered,reaching out over the table and stroking Grace's arm gently.

"Like? Why don't you love dad anymore?" Grace asked looking up at her mum who was beginning to feel that this conversation was far too deep for McDonald's.

"Anymore? I didn't say that I-"

Grace interrupted her, "Mrs Warburton says that when two grown ups love each other very much that they make a baby. And that's how babies are born."

"Grace." Connie sighed, trying desperately to find the right words to describe why she was brought into the world in the nicest possible way without lying too much, "Sometimes, two grown ups like your dad and I, we decided we wanted a baby, so your dad gave me a special seed to put in my tummy but we wasn't really in love-"

Grace pulled a face as if her mum was insanely stupid, "You're lying. I already know what S.E.X is! And I don't want to know about you and dad." She got up from her chair and held her hand out to a rather shocked Connie, "Come on. All the shops will be closing soon!"

* * *

Connie kissed Grace's forehead gently, "Goodnight darling. Sweet dreams. I love you." She whispered gently. Grace closed her eyes and mumbled, "Love you too mummy."

Connie sat and watched her daughter slowly drift off to sleep, she couldn't get over at how beautiful her baby looked as she lay there gently snoring.

"Con? I made us some dinner. If you want some?" Sam was stood in the doorway, watching them both in awe.

Mrs Beauchamp looked up and gave him a small smile, "Thanks. I'll be down in a minute." She whispered quietly, stroking Grace's cheek.

* * *

"So how was the shopping trip?" Sam asked, placing a plate of lasagna in front of his ex girlfriend. Connie nodded and smiled as she began to eat, "It was good thanks."

Sam nodded as he began to eat too, stuck for conversation, trying desperately to forget the feelings that were forming again for this amazing woman sat before him.

Another awkward silence was thrown upon the ex lovers, it was unbearable for them both so Connie decided to lighten the situation.

"Grace really shocked me today." Connie said, reaching out for her glass of wine as Sam looked up raising an eyebrow, "She told me all about, in her words - not mine, S.E.X today."

Sam laughed slightly, with a frown, disbelief covering his face, "Don't be silly. She won't know about all of that until she's at least 60!"

"I'm serious! She wasn't embarrassed at all to tell me what it was. I didn't know what to say to her!" Connie laughed, covering her mouth with her hand as she finished a mouthful of food, "You'll be pleased to know however, that our little girl said that she is never ever going to kiss a boy let alone do it with them. 'That'd be so gross!' were her words exactly."

Sam laughed too and smiled, "She has her head screwed on her shoulders, alright." He sipped his wine and glanced over at Connie, "Those eight years have gone so fast. Only feels like yesterday that she was this tiny little baby in my arms. So fragile and new."

Connie nodded, lost in her own thoughts about their daughter and a thousand 'what if's'.

"Do you ever think about how things would have been if we would have stayed together?"

"All the time." Sam replied, standing up and placing his plate in the kitchen sink.

"How do you think it would have been?"

"Well Constance..."


End file.
